oddly enough

A Pittsburgh woman will spend five years in federal prison for felony heroin drug possession after an appeals court upheld a judge’s refusal to dismiss the charges because police mistakenly burned her change purse and the drugs in question.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the judge’s ruling last year that city police didn’t purposely thwart 33-year-old Tiona Jones’ defense by burning the items after cleaning out an evidence room due to a ventilation problem.

Jones’ attorney had argued her defense depended upon showing the jury the purse could have been zipped closed with the drugs in it. Jones claims that’s how the purse appeared during a May 2008 traffic stop, when an officer says he saw the drugs sticking out of the open purse.

Police: Pa. man stops to relieve self, steals meat

JOHNSTOWN, Pa.

Police say a western Pennsylvania man who stopped to relieve himself outside a packing company decided to steal about $1,000 worth of meat after his car accidentally backed into the building and broke through a glass door.

At least that’s the story that West Hills Regional police say the man is sticking to this time.

Police Sgt. George Musulin told the Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown that 47-year-old Joseph Winogrodzki gave police several versions of the Oct. 18 incident before he was charged.

At first, police said Winogrodzki told them he was driving past the Alex Froehlich Packing Co. when he saw two men break a glass door and throw meat onto the sidewalk.

Winogrodzki told police he was reporting that crime, but later acknowledged he stole the meat after drinking and taking pain medication.

Bolivia returns 700-year-old mummified toddler to Peru

LIMA, Peru

A mummified toddler seized from antiquities traffickers is at least 700 years old and sits about a foot tall.

On Tuesday, it was returned to Peru by Bolivia, where officials seized it two years ago as smugglers tried to ship it to France.

The mummy was presented at a news conference wrapped in white linen. Its sex is uncertain, but archaeologists believe it comes from a pre-Inca culture of coastal Peru.

Peruvian cultural official Blanca Alva says the mummy’s left leg belonged to another child and only two of the five pieces of cloth in which it was wrapped are original.

Peru struggles to prevent the theft of its rich cultural patrimony.

Three years ago, Peru added human remains to its list of endangered goods barred from export.